Swim Lessons

This summer we decided to sign Jacob up for swimming lessons. He completed his lessons June 10-20. He did absolutely amazing.

At first I wasn't sure how he would react to the lessons since he is a little more timid in the pool. But he proved me wrong and did great. He learned to jump into the pool and go under water (both of which he had already been doing) He learned the proper way to use his arms while swimming, kicking his legs, swimming with a pool noodle, back float, forward float, and jumping off the diving board. I am sure there is more as well but I cannot remember everything.

Since completing the lessons, he has become much more brave at the pool. He jumps off the diving board all on his own, even runs off sometimes. He also goes down the big slide which is huge for him. He used to want to go down it so badly and would even climb all the way to the top before chickening out and climbing back down. I am very proud of him!

We also signed Jordan up for the swimming lessons as well. We thought he would do great since he is so fearless in the pool. He had no desire to do the lessons and screamed the whole time. So I wasn't going to force him into it. Maybe next year he will want to do them. If not, he probably doesn't even need them. He has been doing a really great job at the pool this year as well. He even jumped off the diving board too! (Papa was holding his hand but still! He is only two years old!)

Wordless Wednesday: Honoring Christopher (06.27.13)

Quillan Isaiah: Two Months

Today Quillan turns two months old. It's hard to believe another month has passed by already. He now weighs 10 lbs 9 oz and is 23 inches long. I did not measure his head circumference. His eyes remain blue. He is still mostly bald, with a little peach fuzz hair coming in. We all seem to think it's a different color but most of what I hear is it's red. (Some say blonde and some say brown, though). He still makes a lot of interesting facial expressions but most of the time he has this pissed off look on his face. He has outgrown most of his newborn clothes and is wearing mostly 0-3 and 3 month outfits now.

He continues to do better with nursing. He gags and chokes less often. He still does not really ever spit up. We are very fortunate for that! It is very hard to get burps out of him most of the time but when he does burp it's usually a pretty impressive one. He eats about every 3 hours during the day and he goes about 5 hours at night without eating. He is doing better at taking a pacifier now too. But when he's hungry, he's hungry. And he's not afraid to let you know it! He still makes a lot of bubbles when he cries -- and sometimes even when he's not crying -- and he often chokes on the bubbles as well. I am going to talk to his pediatrician about this at his two month check up next week because I have never seen a baby do this before.

Since we started putting him to sleep on his stomach he has been sleeping much better. Most nights he sleeps for a 4-6 hour stretch (usually it's about 5 hours though). He has slept for up to 7.5 hours at a time though! That only happened once but it sure was nice. He still fusses sometimes when he sleeps, mostly when he has gas that we can't get out. He no longer moans and groans all the time though. He takes 2-3 naps a day and has more periods of alertness now.

He enjoys looking at things with stripes, such as the blinds and the zebra on his bouncer seat. He can track objects with his eyes but doesn't for very long periods. He can hold his head up pretty much all on his own now. He rarely drops it anymore. He does a lot of scooting around when he's on his belly. He can pretty much cover his entire crib and can scoot himself right off of his blankets on the floor. Once he gets more strength in his arms, I think he's going to be a big mover.



I believe that Quillan has smiled for the first time this past month. Because he is always gassy, it's hard to tell if his smiles are real smiles or gassy smiles. If they are real smiles (which, we are calling them real) they are still pretty hard to come by sometimes.

This month Quillan had a few firsts. He went in the backyard swing for the first time. He didn't seem too impressed by it. I didn't keep him in for long because this was before he had better head control and I was a little nervous about it. He also went on his first road trip -- to Chicago for my cousin Tracy's wedding. This was also his first time to a wedding and his first time sleeping overnight in a hotel. For being only seven weeks at the time, he did pretty well with the whole thing. He got fussy in the car because he was hungry and tired and just wanted to be held. I think it was hard for him to understand why Mommy was sitting right there but not picking him up. He slept nearly the whole drive home though. And he did awesome sleeping in the pack-n-play in the hotel. I wasn't sure with the mattress being less than comfortable but he slept his normal five hour stretch. He's really a pretty easy going baby. We are very blessed with him.

Here are some pictures of his second month of life, June 2 - July 2, 2013.

smile? maybe?

getting stronger!

bubbles!